


Piece Of Cake

by Latios



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Bakery, Baker!Iwaizumi, Bakery, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Iwaizumi is rlly done with him, Light Angst, M/M, Pining, Romance, model!Oikawa, not rlly even, oikawa can't cook, some kuroken on the side, they have a foodfight
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-11
Updated: 2015-11-11
Packaged: 2018-05-01 03:04:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 15,465
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5189717
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Latios/pseuds/Latios
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A man walks out of the back room to the shop, holding a tray out by his chest at an arms’ width away with a neutral expression on his face. When he meets Oikawa’s eyes, though, his lips tug upward as he wishes the two of them a welcome, going back to his job with lining the shelves in sweets of all kinds. If the small smile he gave wasn’t enough to stop Oikawa’s heart, the way his muscles flexed in that sleeveless shirt sure did, and yeah—he was <i>definitely</i> coming back here again.</p><p>~</p><p>(Or; Iwaizumi is a baker and Oikawa suddenly has a craving for sweets every day.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Piece Of Cake

**Author's Note:**

> So so sorry for taking so long with this, I'm working on shoreline next!  
> I hope you enjoy!

“Would you mind going on a date with me?" Aiko, one of his temporary make-up artists asks him as Friday night approaches, when they’ve just finished up at the shoot. “You’re done shooting for today, and it’s the weekend now. I know this wonderful little Italian restaurant only a block from here, if you’re interested.” She adds, hands clasped together and biting her lip, hopeful.

He agrees (with nothing else to do on a Friday night), and just like that, he has a date.

The restaurant is nice, just like she told him. They have a good time, and end up leaving it early after they’ve finished their meal to walk around the city for a while.

They were only walking down the crowded street that the girl points to a small bakery shop at the corner of the road, with a large banner-like sign that covers the overhanging roof above the door. It reads, ‘Aoba Jousai Bakery’. Her blonde curls fall gracefully around her face as she turns, batting her long, black eyelashes sweetly. “Can we go there?” She asks. He smiles, and offers an arm to her. “Of course.” 

When they get into the shop they’re immediately met with a heavenly scent of sweets baking in the oven, and a small tingle of a bell above their heads. It’s a quaint little shop, light creams and browns and pastel pinks layering the walls, and an overall feeling of something kind, like a home-cooked meal or sunny warmed over sheets in the morning. Even from the outside, the little shop on the corner didn’t seem to fit in with the gray smog and crowded Tokyo, and it reminded him of his home, in a way. The smell of the bread alone was mouthwatering, never mind the cakes and pastries placed among the shelves in an orderly fashion with clean cursive labels and prices... He was sure to remember this place even after the date was over, and he would definitely come back.

He turns around when he hears a noise behind him at the front desk. Of course, he shouldn’t have assumed they were alone in the store. Even in just those few moments alone it felt like they were transferred to a different world, left alone to the sugary sweetness in the air and the feeling of being left on a cloud. 

A man walks out of the back room to the shop, holding a tray out by his chest at an arms’ width away with a neutral expression on his face. His hair was short and dark, height being tall (but not as tall as Oikawa) with tan skin and a firm, concentrated expression. When he meets Oikawa’s eyes, though, his lips tug upward as he wishes the two of them a welcome, going back to his job with lining the shelves in sweets of all kinds. If the small smile he gave wasn’t enough to stop Oikawa’s heart, the way his muscles flexed in that sleeveless shirt sure did, and yeah—he was definitely coming back here again.

Oikawa feels a little bad about totally forgetting the girl he came here with for a moment when seeing the other man, but he quickly pushes his thoughts aside when the short blonde tugs at his wrist, attempting to show him some small strawberry cakes she was interested in. He tries his best to pay attention to the sweets—because really, they did look amazing, and although he just had dinner he could quickly feel an appetite coming back—he couldn’t control the way he discreetly looked towards the bakery guy every time he walked back into the room.

She points a few cakes out that she’d like with a finely manicured finger, and Oikawa pulls out his wallet at the register, choosing a few for himself as well. The high price he pays for the small servings of cake is well worth it when he gets a clear view of the mans’ name tag, which reads “Iwaizumi” in a delicate font. He’ll be sure to remember that, too, by the way he chants it in his head.

‘Iwaizumi’ gives them a deep, “Have a good night.” and the smallest of smiles as they pay and leave, but even the small gesture is one of the most charming things he’s ever seen. He tries to speak around the knot in his throat, coughing out a “You too,” back at him, and only hoping it sounded normal.

They unwillingly leaves the shop, (but with an armful of sweets, so he can’t be too upset. He already has plans to return.) and he walks the girl home like a gentleman to conclude their date.

But he doesn’t call her back.

~

He ends up there less than a week later, finding some free time in his busy modelling schedule to walk around downtown when he sees the cute little shop at the end of the street again, and only hopes the really cute guy from his date that night was still there.

Not many people knew about Oikawa’s sexuality other than the family and few close friends around him, and of course, being in the eye of the public, he knew he had to be low-key about the fact that he liked girls _and_ guys. Throughout his dating history, he’d certainly been with more women than men, but he can’t say he preferred women over guys at all. Most of his relationships had been short but sweet, and ended on fairly good notes. Everyone was so quick to appear then disappear in his life, coming and going with ease, like quick blips in his lifespan. There were few people who stayed with him over the years, and even fewer of them were friends rather than family. So many of the people he had been close to—or wanted to get close to—left for dozens of reasons; 

Some of them were fans, people who had liked him for what they saw in the magazines, and not what they saw in front of them on dates. Some of them were only there when it was convenient for them—and although he doesn’t blame them for it, most of those relationships were terribly one-sided, and were only important when favors were needed. Some people just didn’t click, and some naturally broke apart with time. It was sort of the reason he didn’t try to date with long term in mind.

It’s not exactly that he wanted something serious—but it would be nice hooking up with this “Iwaizumi” guy once or twice, maybe more.  
But for now, he’ll just creepily peer through the shops windows to see if the guy he harbored a teensy crush on was working at the moment, and see where it goes from here. If something happens, it happens, right?

When he confirms that _yes, he’s working_ when he sees those arms hauling a mop and pail around, he feels an involuntary grin tug at his lips as he swings open the door—maybe too enthusiastically.

He alerts Iwaizumi, who seems to be the only guy working in the shop at the moment. He raises an eyebrow at Oikawa for the display of eagerness to open the door of all things, but quickly goes back to his work of mopping the floor, mumbling a quick welcome to the loud guest.

Oikawa wants to die. He goofed up opening the door, of all fucking things—how was he supposed to eventually _talk_ to this man? Even so, with his birth given confidence, he shakes it off and walks aimlessly around the store, examining everything—including the nonexistent dust bunnies in the corner when he’s run out of treats—just so he can spy on Iwaizumi.

He notices a few things about the guy in the half an hour he spends chasing breadcrumbs in circles around the pasty isles:

1\. He quickly loses his cool at basically everything—be it his mop slipping right through his fingers when he crouches for only a moment to pick something up, or when he’s deciding how to re-arrange the pastries on the counter to look nicer. He rolls his eyes. Grumbles a lot and mutters curses under his breath whenever something doesn’t go right. but it’s cute, and Oikawa tries to stifle the oncoming smiles behind his hand.  
2\. He’s got a really pretty smile. Oikawa already knew that—but it’s reconfirmed and leaving Oikawa’s heart stuttering in his ribcage when A lady walks in and is greeted by him. He’s also a little mad at that part—Iwaizumi gives her a wide, pearly tooth smile, but it doesn’t reach far past professional, and it doesn’t reach his eyes. If he gets the balls to talk to Iwaizumi one day, he hopes he can make Iwaizumi smile a lot brighter than that lady did.  
3\. He’s got a really, _really_ nice face. He’s often making angry faces it seems, which is such a tragedy, but he’s got a certain softness to his eyes when he’s concentrating. When Oikawa’s close enough, (conveniently looking at the ‘rasberry rose’ cakes right next to him) he can just see the greenish-grey irises peeking through. He’s got smooth, caramel skin and a strong nose as well, and Oikawa has to play red-light-green-light in watching him, hoping he looks away in time not to get caught.

It’s when he’s deciding between two cakes that he gets called out on his loitering.

“Are you actually going to buy something?” A gruff voice asks, and Oikawa swivels around with a calm smile intact, but on the inside, he’s screaming a little bit, both from who was talking to him, and the fact that he was just _suddenly there._.

“Duh,” he laughs, ignoring the increasing loudness of his heartbeat in his ears. “I’m just having trouble choosing which one to get!” _smooth cover._

“For half an hour?” Iwaizumi asks, laying his chin on the mop handle and raising an eyebrow at Oikawa, tapping his feet slightly impatiently. 

_Okay, maybe not so smooth._

“I’m just trying to look around,” he whines. “You’ve probably tried everything in here before, right?” He was trying to keep the conversation going, and throw Iwaizumi off from the fact that he was definitely creeping around the shop and stalking him. He points to the cakes behind the glass, and pulls an exaggerated smile. “what would you recommend?”

Iwaizumi sighs, but he doesn’t really seem that annoyed. “Depends what you like,” He starts, addressing to the cakes, naming them off. Oikawa doesn’t hear most of it, and instead just watches Iwaizumi’s lips as he talks.

He’s confident about his work, that much is obvious. And he clearly knows what he’s doing, but there’s this different light to his eyes when he lists the types of cakes off, an almost child-like glee that only shows in his eyes.

“—And if you like milder flavors, you should probably get this one.” Iwaizumi finishes, and looks up at Oikawa. “So, which will it be? Any of those spark your interest?”

Oikawa partly regrets spending the last two minutes looking at his lips and eyes instead of actually listening, and has the heart-drop moment he remembers from school when a teacher called on him and he hadn’t been listening. He points to a random cake on the shelf without missing a beat. “This one, Please!” he declares loudly.

Iwaizumi rolls his eyes, and Oikawa _knows_ that he knows that Oikawa was not listening. He feels searing heat on the tips of his ears, and pulls out his wallet as Iwaizumi makes his way behind the counter, getting the tongs and pastry box ready, with a quiet mumble of, “Raspberry chocolate sorbet it is.”

“So how long have you worked here?” Oikawa suddenly asks, bright as ever. Iwaizumi doesn’t bother moving his head, but his eyes trail up to Oikawa for a moment, studying him. “About two years now.”

“Are you the only one who works here?” Oikawa asks on, looking around. “Even last time I came here, you were the only one working at the time.”

Iwaizumi snorts. “You came here late when everyone else went home the other time, and today’s a Sunday--so it’s slow business anyway. There’s a few other workers here besides me, but only one needs to be on shift right now. It’s a small shop.”

“I see.” Oikawa smiles, and pretends he’s _not_ excited that Iwaizumi remembered him out of a crowd of regular customers he probably got. “So who makes everything here?” He asks, as the price appears on the cash register, and he fishes a couple thousand yen out of his wallet.

“That would be me and a man named Yahaba,” Iwaizumi replies.

Oikawa drops the bills into Iwaizumi’s hand, Mouth hanging open. “Did you make that?” he asks, referring to the cake he just purchased.

Iwaizumi smirks, putting the money in the register and fishing out a few extra coins for change.“Is that so hard to believe?” He asks, handing the bag and money to Oikawa.

“No—um.” _I suspected someone else because I didn’t actually **see** you making them in person and boy that only makes you 10x hotter,_ he thinks, but doesn’t say, and just shakes his head. “The ones I had last time were just really good. I’ll definitely be coming back.” he replies.

Iwaizumi snorts. “See you soon. Have a nice day.”

“You too,” Oikawa mutters, swiveling around to leave the store. He doesn’t make it out the door before Iwaizumi clears his throat from behind him.

“Um--This might sound weird, but have I seen you somewhere before?” Iwaizumi asks, squinting at the other. “I feel like I recognize your face.”

Oikawa opens his mouth to tell him that he probably did see him before, he’s on billboards and advertisements and in local magazines, how could he _not_ see him, but instead holds back a laugh and replies with, “Are you flirting with me, Iwaizumi?”

The guy snaps his jaw shut so fast it probably hurt. He glares, turning to flee to the room behind the registry. “No. Nevermind.”

Oikawa laughs, and has an extra skip in his step as he leaves the shop.

~

You don’t understand, Kuroo,” Oikawa groans dramatically, draping himself across his friend on the couch. 

They were currently lazing around their apartment like they always did--a solid tradition for their weekends. Most of the time, it included binge watching every type of movie they could find varying in genre, age, and rating, playing video games non-stop, and pigging out on a various amount snacks and pizza like a bunch of teenagers. it was a ritual at this point, and they were dedicated to it.

Currently, Kuroo was playing Mario Kart by himself while Oikawa tortured himself with thoughts of Iwaizumi.

“Hey, watch it!” Kuroo hisses, lifting the controller and his arms above Oikawa’s head as he flops down like a rag doll into his lap. 

“Pay attention to what I’m saying!” Oikawa groans into the throw pillow in his arms, rolling onto his back to look up at Kuroo. 

“I get it, I get it, he’s really hot and you don’t know what to do about it,” He smiles down at his friend, who’s still pouting. “Can you let me play my game now? I don’t even see what the big deal is—just ask him out. You’ve always been good at that, right?”

“Asking people out?” Oikawa raises an eyebrow. He doesn’t know if that’s what he wants to be known for as ‘good at’.

“You’re insane confidence,” Kuroo snorts. “It’s always done you favors before.”

Oikawa just groans more, curling farther into his lap like a needy cat demanding attention. “I can’t just ask him out, he’s a guy. I don’t even know if he swings that way, for starters. And even then--what if he’s not interested?”

“Details, details.” Kuroo mutters. “Moping around will definitely give you the answers to that one though, I’m sure.” He nods solemnly, eyes unmoving from the television screen. Oikawa smacks him with the pillow he was clutching and rolls lazily off of Kuroo and the couch and makes his way towards the fridge.

Oikawa comes back with the cake on a plate, and mopes a little more quietly on the other side of the couch, sitting normally with his legs tucked up to his chin and his food resting on his knees. He sees Kuroo make a face at his galaxy socks from the side, and ignores him. He only looks back once again when he sees the cake with him.

Even without looking Kuroo was still going the right direction in his game, driving steadily on the track without faltering. Oikawa didn’t know how he did it, but being with Kenma all his life probably helped him improve greatly on his gaming. Kuroo practically licks his lips at the sight of the cake. “ _That’s_ the cake he made?”

“Yeah,” Oikawa says, and digs the fork in it. He only manages to get a forkful of the fluffy chocolate batter in his mouth before Kuroo’s eyes light up from beside him, which was never a good sign. it meant he was getting an _idea._

“I think I’ve got a solution to your problem, Oikawa.” He says, _still not looking at his game like he should have been_ and before Oikawa can reply, and ask _solution for what exactly?_ , Kuroo has snatched the cake from his grasp, and shoved into his mouth in one go, leaving Oikawa to gape at him from the other side of the couch, hands filled with a now significantly lighter plate.

“That’s—why would you do that? What kind of monster would eat it in a bite like that?” His voice is small and lost. His eyes go sharp and angry as the realization sinks in. “Kuroo, you jackass, you ate my cake!”

“I solved your problem.” Kuroo says around the mouthful, chewing loudly as crumbs fall out of his mouth and onto their carpet. 

Oikawa makes a face at him. “How did that solve _anything?_ All you did was make a big mess on the floor—which you’re cleaning up later, by the way.”

“I took away your excuses. Now you have to go back and see him again if you want to get another cake.”

“I would’ve went there anyways! Why’d you have to eat my cake?” he whines, not-so-silently mourning the loss of his stolen pastry. It felt like he lost a child.

Kuroo licks his fingers clean, other hand not leaving the controller. he shakes his head. “Wow. You should _definitely_ date him, Oikawa, that’s some pretty good cake. “ Oikawa whines in response, and Kuroo continues, not giving him the silence he deserved. “...Make sure to pick me up another piece when you go back, okay?”

Oikawa whacks him in the side of the head with the pillow again.

~

The next time he goes, his excitement falls once he opens the door, with Iwaizumi being nowhere in sight. Instead, there’s a blonde girl with a side ponytail humming and sweeping the floors, and an old man with a basket full of bread in the other corner of the store. It looked like he was stocking up for the apocalypse, with how many bread sticks and buns were in the basket.

Oikawa doesn’t leave right away, and instead saunters about the store casually, waiting for the one customer to finish up and leave. He takes the time to try and sneak peeks around the store—although he doesn’t know why he does it, Iwaizumi obviously wasn’t hiding anywhere. 

It’s only a few minutes he’s waiting before he leaves. “Have a good day!” The girl calls after him his as he walks out the door. The man smiles and waves, and as soon as the door is closed and the bell stops chiming, he approaches the young woman. 

She’s a lot shorter up close, and she jumps and literally squeaks when she turns around from stocking the shelves to see Oikawa looming over her. 

“C-Can I help you?” She stutters, clutching the bread loaf in her hands so tight it’s leaving imprints in the sides. Oikawa wonders if it’s normal to stress that much over an interaction with a customer, but he ignores it and instead smiles sweetly at her. “I’m sorry to bother you when you’re working, but I was wondering if Iwaizumi was around?”

She puts the bread down in it’s rightful basket, and her eyes widen. “O-oh, I see! What did you need with Iwaizumi-san?”

“I came to visit him today—but I guess he’s not here this time?” 

“No, I’m sorry, he’s not here. Are you friends with him, by any chance?” 

“Yeah, we’re friends. But I don’t know that he wasn’t working today.” with another bright smile, he adds. “Of course, I’m just as glad to be helped by a cute lady like you!”

The girls’ cheeks brighten considerably, and that nervous, wobbly smile is back. Oikawa wonders if she was just jittery around people in general, not comfortable with customer service. “Um. I can tell you when his shifts are, if you like?”

Oikawa claps his hands together. _He didn’t even ask for that but—_ “That would be wonderful, thank you!”

She nervously skitters to the back room with a small skip, bringing back a sheet and pointing to his shifts, which he writes down in his phone for reference.

He also sees his full name on the sheet of paper. Iwaizumi Hajime. the grin at his lips only widens. He’ll definitely make use of that knowledge as well.

When he leaves, he ends up buying a few more cakes and some bread—as a thank you for the information, as well as ration enough to last him until the upcoming Thursday, when _Hajime’s_ next shift was.

~

He pushes the door open and the now familiar chime rings softly throughout the store. He spots Iwaizumi and makes his way over with a smile.

“Iwa-chan!” he calls, gathering the attention of the other few customers in the store with his shout. Iwaizumi whacks his arm lightly when he walks over, a scowl on his face. “Don’t disturb the other customers. And what’s with the nickname?” he hisses.

“I could always call you Hajime if you’d prefer!” Oikawa laughs, and Iwaizumi frowns, eyebrows drawing together angrily.

“How did you even get my name? The tag only says Iwaizumi.”

“I came here when you didn’t have a shift and met the lovely little blonde girl who works here! She didn’t only give me your name though,” He smiles cheekily. “She gave me your _whooole_ shift schedule, so now I can come and buy treats whenever you’re in, Iwa-chan!”

“Great,” Iwaizumi mutters. His expression turns a little stiff again as he points at Oikawa. “And hey—Don’t bother Yachi. She probably only gave you my schedule because you scared the shit out of her.”

Oikawa trails behind Iwaizumi as he keeps himself busy, working. 

“Ohh, So is Yacchan your girlfriend?” He asks, trying to be casual.

Inside he was freaking out a little bit, because really, even if this co-worker wasn’t in a relationship with him, was there another girl he was with? Was he even single, or was Oikawa just wasting his time?

Iwaizumi shakes his head and gives him a look. “No, definitely not. Don’t take that as permission to flirt with her either, if that’s why you were asking. I’ll kick you out of my store.”

Oikawa smiles, ignoring how dense the other could be.“Oooh, protective.”

Iwaizumi rolls his eyes. “Don’t you already have a girlfriend? Don’t bug my co-workers.”

“I don’t have one, Iwa-chan, why do you say that?” 

Iwaizumi turns to him, brows furrowed. “The first time you came in here with a girl didn’t you?—nevermind.” He shakes his head yet again, and walks to the other side of the shop while Oikawa waits where he left him, until realization hits him and a mischievous smirk makes it’s way across his face. 

“It’s all a misunderstanding, Iwa-chan!” he calls, following in Iwaizumi’s footsteps to harass him more. “I was just on a date with a co-worker that night! It was a one time thing, we just wanted to get dinner together like adults.” He insists.

“Go away,” Iwaizumi hisses when Oikawa gets far too close, leaning in right over his shoulder to speak in his ear.

“Nuh-uh, you gotta recommend me something to buy first! I’ll only take Iwa-chan’s suggestions.” He dances around Iwaizumi, who only groans and mumbles something along the lines of “I’m going to hit you with this breadstick” as he holds said object up threateningly.

“...Fine,” Iwaizumi says, giving into his antics. “Come here. I made some new cakes yesterday, and if you insist on playing guinea pig for what I suggest, do you think you could try these?” He shows Oikawa two small cakes, and Oikawa can tell from smell alone that there is definitely oranges in one, and the smell is sweet. the other is a simple square serving of chocolate cake with a strawberry on top, drizzled with caramel.

“Of course!” He says, and goes with it as Iwaizumi meets him at the till. 

“That’ll be 1,580 yen please.”

Oikawa hands him the bills, and takes the bag, waving on his way out. 

“Bye,” Iwaizumi grumbles half-heartedly after him without bothering to wave back, and Oikawa smiles, feeling refreshed. Everything Iwaizumi did was cute, even if he was trying to be annoyed.

~

He ends up groaning every bite, the cake is just so _good_ and he knows he’s going to gain weight like crazy and lose his modelling body if he keeps at it.

“Keep it down, will you?” Kuroo says, nose scrunched. “I get you like Iwaizumi, but moaning every time you take a bite of his cake isn’t helping either of you get closer.”

Oikawa pushes Kuroo, who almost topples off his stool with laughs. 

“Leave me alone, Kuroo. you already have a boyfriend, and it’s no fair. How did you get _Kenma_ of all people to date you?” 

Oikawa had known Kuroo for years, and him and Kenma had always been a thing, even when it wasn’t. Their relationship was always close, being childhood friends and all, always been lovey-dovey and intimate in the presence of others without realizing it. They’d been neighbours growing up, so obviously they’d be close, but the way they just lied on each other and the constant touching in public places screamed more than just friends. Eventually, they started going out, (along with some major intervention from Oikawa and friends) and had been together since.

“I lucked out big time,” Kuroo sighs happily. Oikawa nods.

“You guys are so cute together, it makes me so jealous.” Oikawa sighs wistfully. “How I would have loved to have met Iwa-chan as a child and grown up with him. Childhood friendships turning to romance is so cute.”

Kuroo raises an eyebrow. “That deep already? You want to date him that badly, even though you’ve seen him what—twice now?”

“Three times,” Oikawa breathes. “And of course. You haven’t seen Iwaizumi yet, but you’d understand if you saw him.” Oikawa clenches his hand near his heart. “He’s so devilishly handsome Kuroo, I want to cry.”

“Ask him out already, you doofus.”

“I’m _trying_.”

“Try harder. Pull some charm on him.”

“Ugh.” Oikawa smashes his head into the table in front of him. Kuroo nods in agreement of the motion, continuing to eat the last of his cake. 

“Same.”

“Shut up, Kuroo.”

~

The next time he comes, he doesn’t spot Iwaizumi, but knows he’s on shift, so he waits patiently, looking around the store curiously like he had the second time he visited. 

A hand coming down on his shoulder makes him jump and let out a weird noise, and he turns to see Iwaizumi raising a brow at him. 

“Oh! it’s only you, Iwa-chan. Your brute force scared me.”

“I see that.” He hums. “Did you like the cakes from last time?” 

Oikawa beams. “The chocolate strawberry and orange ones?” Iwaizumi nods, and he continues, “They were great! I only tried the chocolate and strawberry one, and my roommate tried the other one, but he told me it was awesome!”

“That’s good to hear,” Iwaizumi says, a rare, sweet smile tugging at his lips. Oikawa’s heart practically stops. He’d buy as many cakes as needed to see _that_ again.

“Have any more recommendations, Iwa-chan?” he asks with a skip in his step, following after Iwaizumi who was already walking away.

“Not yet, but I can tell you when I do.”

Oikawa hums, watching Iwaizumi pick the cakes randomly.

 _Do it. Ask him out somewhere._ His mind whispers as he watches Iwaizumi, his concentrated expression and his eyelashes and lips and—

“Oikawa?” Iwaizumi asks, snapping him out of his trace and Oikawa blinks. 

Iwaizumi points to the cakes, as if to ask “How many?” and Oikawa replies, “Two again, please.” After another moment passes, he gasps out loud, attracting the eyes of other customers wandering by.

“Hey, How do you know my name? I didn’t tell you, did I?” He was being mischievous about it by not sharing, but he’s certain he didn’t say his name. How did—?

“You are a model, right? I’ve seen you in a few magazines before. I thought I recognized you somewhere, but you just _had_ to be a cheeky little shit about it and not tell me the normal way like any other person would.” He huffs. 

Oikawa smiles innocently. “Oh, but I only thought you were trying to flirt with me, Iwa-chan!”

“Who would flirt with you,” Iwaizumi mutters as he packages up the cakes for him. 

Oikawa blinks. “There’s a lot of people who would, actually, do you want to hear the list of—”

“Shut up, Oikawa.”

 _Ask him out._ his mind tells him, but Oikawa doesn’t know what to say. All the right words are on the tip his tongue, just waiting for his mouth to open, but he just couldn’t do it. For some reason, he didn’t know how to ask Iwaizumi Hajime. It’s not that he was that different from all the other guys he’s asked before, right? _It shouldn’t be this hard,_ he tells himself. He comes up with nothing, and simply pays for the treats with his mouth sealed shut.

~

He’s moping around the park when he sees Iwaizumi next.

He’d never seen Iwaizumi outside of the shop, so it’s a surprise to see anything but the t-shirt and apron he’d usually wear. But today, he was wearing some slimming cargo pants and a leather jacket, a rough style that suited him. Oikawa’s heart may have stopped beating for a moment, but he takes a deep breath to re-start it and walks over to the bench Iwaizumi was sitting at.

“Fancy meeting you here!” Oikawa greets, sitting down with a plop beside a texting Iwaizumi, who jumps a little bit from suddenly being talked to.

His eyes register Oikawa quickly enough, and he lets out a fleeting smile at him, finishing the text and sending it off, pocketing the phone to turn fully to Oikawa. “What are you doing here?” he asks.

Oikawa groans, slinking down into his seat. “I was here with my friends, but they ditched me to go on a date together.” It comes out like a pout. Earlier, he was enraged that his friends ditched him, even cursing their names. But now he was sending a quiet thank you to Kuroo in his mind. What were the odds of finding Iwaizumi in the park?

“Your friends ditched you to go out together?” he chuckles lightly, a lovely sound that melts Oikawa’s insides. “Pretty good friends you got.”

Oikawa frowns. “They are good friends. They probably thought they were being funny, but I’m pretty sure one of them just went along with it, really. He’s not the sort to play pranks.” he sighs “Besides, The other one is my roommate and he hasn’t seen his boyfriend in a while, so I can’t blame him.”

In fact, he was certain Kenma could care less about playing pranks, but he knows the lengths Kuroo would go to to get Kenma to go somewhere with him. He probably stole his psp and started running the opposite direction. He already decided he wouldn’t share cake with Kuroo ever again though, so even if that wasn’t what happened he’ll hear none of it.

“So what were you doing out here alone? You waiting for a date to show up?” Oikawa asks Iwaizumi, pulling his coat in a bit tighter to keep warm in the spring air. 

“Nah,” He replies. “Just getting some fresh air. I’ve either been in the shop or my house non-stop for the past few weeks, and my co-workers are really intent on me taking a break.”

Oikawa nods in understanding. “You like working?”

“I like it a lot, actually.” Iwaizumi smiles. “My mom used to bake some of the greatest pastries I’d ever tasted, so i’m not too surprised I started cooking as a hobby. I used to work at a different bakery for a long time, but It was a bit of a far drive, so I applied to closer bakeries a few years ago, and now I work at Aoba Jousai.” with a quick cough, he adds, “So you’re a model?”

Oikawa smiles at the sudden abashed look on his face for talking about his work. It was cute. He didn’t want him to stop talking about it. Nevertheless, he replies, “I work at Seijou. Been a model there for about 4 years now, but before that, I just did part-time modelling in high school.”

“So you work at a big place like that? What’s it like?”

Oikawa taps his foot nervously. It was the first time they were _actually_ having a conversation, and it felt nice. “It’s alright. It’s pretty busy, and you wouldn’t think taking photos all day is hard work, but it gets really exhausting inside the studios, some days.”

“I never said something like that would be easy, but Well—you’re obviously good at it, to work in a place like that.”

Oikawa blinks at the sudden compliment. “Thank you, Iwa-chan… It’s actually pretty fun. If you wanted to see what it’s like you could always come by the studio and check it out sometime!”

He wouldn’t say it out loud, but the acknowledgement of his work alone had made him sincerely happy. A lot of people had told him his work was “Easy” without doing it a day in their life.He had almost expected the same opinion from others after that.

“I’ll think about it,” Iwaizumi hums, standing up and holding a hand out to Oikawa, who looks at the hand with a confused expression, but grabs it anyway. 

_Ah._ Oikawa thinks, _His hands are bigger than mine._ They were more calloused than his, for sure, but held onto his fingers with a soft but firm grip as he pulled Oikawa onto his feet. It felt comfortable and warm, and really, he wouldn’t mind continuing to hold that hand for longer.

“Are we going somewhere?” Oikawa asks with a tilt of his head.

“To get coffee.” With a scratch at his neck, he adds, “If you want to, that is.”

Oikawa’s heart leaps into his throat, and his grip on Iwaizumi’s hand clasps just a bit tighter. “Yeah.” he chokes out. “For sure, let’s go!”

They walk throughout the park, and even though Iwaizumi dropped his hand shortly after helping him up from the park bench, the lingering heat left in his fingertips from those hands on his remains on for the rest of the walk.

They don’t even make it out of the park before they come across a street vendor, and Oikawa nudges him towards that instead.

“Do they even sell coffee there?” Iwaizumi asks. Oikawa shrugs, and tugs him by the arm to the attended shack with no lineup.

They did, in fact, sell coffee, but Oikawa orders Ice-cream instead, earning a questioning look from Iwaizumi.

“What?”

“The idea of buying coffee was to keep warm, dumbass, why’d you order ice cream in the spring?”

Oikawa shrugs. “I buy ice cream when it’s colder out. Have you never done that before? It doesn’t melt as fast, it’s nice.” He holds out the waffle cone filled with bubblegum ice cream out to Iwaizumi. “Want to try?”

Iwaizumi rolls his eyes and begrudgingly takes a small bite of the ice cream near the top, quickly pulling away and muttering something, but Oikawa only catches the words, “Childish flavour” from the sentence. 

“I’ve liked bubblegum ever since I was a kid, don’t judge.” He frowns, but continues to lick away at the creamy treat while Iwaizumi warmed his hands up with the mug of coffee.

“Where are you from, anyway? Were you born in Tokyo?” Iwaizumi asks, changing the subject.

Oikawa shakes his head. “No, I was born in Miyagi, actually. My mom still lives there, but I moved out here after I graduated from high school, what about you?”

He turns to Iwaizumi, who looked really surprised. His mouth is just barely parted, but his eyes look intrigued. “You too?” He asks.

Oikawa blinks. _What did he—_ “Wait, you’re from Miyagi?!”

“Yeah!” Iwaizumi replies. “Born and raised there, but we moved out when I turned eleven.” He holds the coffee in one hand, other hand in his pocket. He was walking so close to Oikawa now that their shoulders kept bumping, but he couldn’t say that he minded. Iwaizumi laughs shortly. “Wow. that’s pretty cool, actually. It’s been a while since I’ve bumped into somebody from there.”

“Do you think we ever met before as kids? We’re close enough in age, right? You’re like, what, twenty-one?” Oikawa asks. It doesn’t really count as being childhood friends with someone, but hey, it’s just as cool in a way. They were from the _same_ town!

“I’m twenty-two, actually,” He smiles. “And Maybe, who knows?” 

He later learned that they did not go to the same school, sadly. but they did share a common interest in volleyball, so odds were, they _did_ meet at some point or another. They also made promises to have a friendly match at some point, as neither of them ever really lost interest in the sport.

Iwaizumi liked spicy things. Despite practically running a bakery, he didn’t have much of a sweet tooth, although he did like something chocolate-y every once in awhile. He liked dogs, but never had one of his own. His apartment didn’t allow them, but he swore to move someday to a new place that did. The best part--he liked lap dogs, which seemed totally unfitting to Oikawa, but at the same time a perfect match. He could totally picture big buff Iwaizumi with a tiny, shaky pomeranian.

Iwaizumi was a bigger sweetheart then he originally assumed, and based on all the insults Iwaizumi constantly threw at him, he never assumed he was like _this_ , but he liked it. He liked Iwaizumi. 

In turn, Iwaizumi learned a few details about Oikawa. He called him weird for liking ice cream in the cold seasons, but the harassment of his life choices didn’t stop there. Somehow his love of astronomy and alien movies came into the mix, and Iwaizumi made fun of him for liking the alien series and E.T. 

“What, they’re good movies—stop laughing, Iwa-chan!”

Oikawa started to see his breath in the air, and realized how dark it had gotten suddenly. In a slight panic, he checks his phone. 

_7:28pm_

“Ah, Shit,” he cusses, pushing the phone back into his pocket and turning to Iwaizumi, who looked a little concerned. “Everything Okay?” he asked. 

“No. Oops.” Oikawa groaned, walking on spot in a continuous circle. “I have to go home, sorry. I was sort of supposed to be home an hour ago to help my roommate make dinner since he doesn’t know how to cook anything other than ramen.” He groans again for effect. _damn you, Kuroo._

“You know how to cook?” Iwaizumi asks. Oikawa blushes. 

“...Okay, _no_ , but whenever we cook together, we manage to make _something_ edible. Sort of.” He mumbles, shrinking farther into his coat.

Iwaizumi shakes his head and rolls his eyes—a few moves Oikawa is learning is a trademark of his. “How have you even survived this long?” He asks.

“My success is written in the stars. I find my way around these problems all the time.” he declares confidently, waving him off with a hand. He takes a deep breath after a moment.

“Well, I could always teach you. How to cook things that aren’t ramen, anyway.” Iwaizumi offers, shrugging. “I can’t make anything professional-chef level, but it’s good to know how to cook for yourself. I used to make dinner for my entire family all the time.” 

His heart almost gives out right there. “Really?”

Iwaizumi only nods. “Sure. Stop by the bakery tomorrow, I have another day off.”

Oikawa’s pretty sure all the oxygen leaves him in one, quiet breath. That counted as asking him out on a date, right? _Right?_

Iwaizumi waves to him, turning to go down another street. “So I’ll see you then?”

“Yeah! See you, then!” He gives a small wave, ridiculously happy.

“Bye, Oikawa.”

~

“So where have you been?” Are the first words out of Kuroo Tetsurou’s mouth once he closes the front door to their apartment quietly behind him, hoping not to make any noise or disturb anything. So much for that.

Kuroo wasn’t even looking at him, but turned completely the opposite way, sitting in one of the bean bag chairs they bought on a whim, and playing one of his video games.

“Well?” He asks again at Oikawa’s silence. 

Oikawa starts to pull off his jean jacket and hang it on the overfilled rack behind the door. “It’s no big deal,” he replies, taking his boots off. “And where did you go with Kenma? I know you guys ditched me to go on a date, you know.”

“No changing the subject,” Kuroo replies, pausing his game. Oikawa rolls his eyes. Kuroo sits up and makes his way over, sitting on the back of the closest furniture to them, which happened to be the couch. He even looked a little worried.

“Seriously, Oikawa, Where’d you go though? A text couldn’t hurt, I was actually wondering if I should’ve gone back outside to put up missing signs.”

“And yet you were playing video games until now,” He sighs, but resigns quickly enough under Kuroo’s gaze. “Fine. I met Iwaizumi in the park and lost track of time. I’m sorry.”

Kuroo’s eyes widen and a grin forms. “You should’ve said so earlier! You had me worried. So how was the date?” He waggles his eyebrows at the end of his sentence, leaning in closer with a knowing smirk. 

“It wasn’t a date, Kuroo.” He only _wished_ it was.

“uh-huh. Sure.” 

“I’m serious! I’ll ask him out on a real date sometime, but all we did was walk around the park and get coffee while we talked about things…”

Kuroo’s eyebrows raised. “That doesn’t sound like a date to you?”

“Well we didn’t actually do anything and we just sort of talked, but…” Oikawa smiles, feeling his cheeks going hot. “He said he’s going to teach me how to cook?” 

“Nice,” Kuroo whistles. “Please tell me you got his number?”

The color drains from Oikawa’s face, and all feelings of Euphoria evaporate into thin air. “Shoot. I’ll ask next time.”

“I don’t think it’ll be that hard to get it, at the rate you two are going.”

Oikawa only hopes he’s right.

~

The first session of cooking goes well, and Iwaizumi and Oikawa learns how to makes Agedashi tofu, which he also learns is Iwaizumi’s favorite food.

However, Oikawa complained too much about wanting to make sweets, too, so he took on the duty of teaching Oikawa how to make some basic recipes, if only to satisfy Oikawa’s sweet tooth and get him to shut up about how good the cakes in the oven smelled.

“Iwaizumi”

“ _What?_ ” 

“Stop being grumpy!”

“Then stop talking every _five seconds_! I do have work to do, you know.”

Oikawa pouts from the sidelines, puffing out his cheeks as he wiggles impatiently on top of one of the counters in the kitchen on the bakery. _it's your day off,_ he doesn't mention, since Iwaizumi clearly wouldn't take a break even when his co-workers forced it on him. Iwaizumi was Icing the bakery cakes at the moment, and even if it was intriguing to watch (he always did like those ‘how it’s made’ videos online) he was beginning to feel impatient, And Iwaizumi was well aware of it. 

It was unknown to Oikawa why Iwaizumi let him in the back room in the first place—or why he hadn’t been kicked out yet—but hey, it’s quality time with Iwaizumi, so he’ll take it.

“Iwa-ch—”

“Oikawa if you say one more word I will hit you,” He threatens, picking up and holding a piping bag in his direction. Oikawa gulps, and zips his lips. He starts puffing out his cheeks and frowning, in hopes of getting attention after a few moments.

Iwaizumi ignores him for a while before the baker sighs deeply, dropping the piping bag onto the counter and addressed Oikawa with a point of his fingers.

“Do you know how to ice cakes?” He asks suddenly.

Oikawa looks around briefly like there was someone else in the room he could be asking. He points to himself after a moment, and Iwaizumi gives him a dull look as to say _‘obviously I’m talking to you’_.

It’s a tactic to get him to stop being annoying and talkative for a while, and Oikawa knows it. He’ll play Iwaizumi’s game, regardless.

“I’ve never done it before, but how hard could it be?” Oikawa declares, Head held high and jumping off the counter he was perched on. Iwaizumi hands the piping bag over, and pulling a wax sheet with a plain slice of cake up to him.

“Go ahead then.” Iwaizumi says with a smirk, shattering his confidence with only a few words. He had _no_ idea what he was doing, and Iwaizumi totally saw through it, he knows.

The cake ends up looking not-so-great when he’s done with it. The layer of chocolate frosting looked terrible. It’s nothing short of sloppy compared to Iwaizumi’s, and The icing shells he make are good for a beginner, and probably still taste fine--but terribly uneven, and gimped up with long trails of icing down the sides. He drops the piping bag onto the table with an exhausted whine. He can’t even decorate a _basic_ cake.

“I don’t know how to do this,” He cries.

Iwaizumi walks over from the sidelines, uncrossing his arms and addressing to the icing shells. “You actually didn’t do too bad here, especially for never doing it before. But just so you know, I did better ones when I was only seven years old.”

“I quit,” Oikawa announces, throwing his hands above his hand in surrender as he turns to leave. He doesn’t want to hear it, even if he is being childish.

A laugh rumbles through Iwaizumi’s chest and Oikawa only walks faster, but big, warm hands curl around his wrists and pull him back into the room before he can leave. He willingly lets himself be towed back, but he still sticks his lip out when he’s faced with the cake again.

What he _doesn’t_ expect is for Iwaizumi to weave his hands under Oikawa’s from behind him, making a full-body shiver run down his bones when their skin comes into brief contact.

“What are you doing, Iwaizumi?” He asks, as Iwaizumi guides his hands gently towards another cake when he picks up the piping bag once again.

“Teaching you how to do it. It’s not that hard.”

“Says the guy who’s been doing it since he was seven,” Oikawa mutters. “Don’t waste another cake! I’m just going to ruin it, and your evidence is right there.” he glares at the sloppy, chocolate monstrosity he created.

“Actually, I’ve been baking since I was six. I only said I mastered icing shells at seven years old.”

“Iwa-chan,” He groans, causing Iwaizumi to click his tongue at him from right behind his ear as he tells him to _concentrate more_.

It actually doesn’t look that bad by the time they’re done with the second one, and even Kuroo approves of it when he steals some later. 

~

“Is Iwaizumi here today?” Oikawa asks, when he looks around the mostly empty store and sees no sign of Iwaizumi, which is strange because not only is he a workaholic, but Oikawa thought he lived at the bakery from how often he was just... _there._ Yachi stops sweeping from where she stood, and taps a finger to her chin.

“Sorry, Oikawa-san, He left a few hours ago due to a fever. He didn’t want to go, but Yahaba-san wouldn’t allow him to stay in case it got worse.” 

Yahaba (The co-worker of Iwaizumi’s Oikawa most recently met) peeks his head out of the back kitchen, and squints toward Oikawa in the doorway.

“You looking for Iwaizumi?”

“Yeah.”

“Hold on a sec.” he asks, bowing back into the other room and out of view.

Oikawa waits patiently, (Or to the best of his abilities) shifting his weight to each foot. He’s not kept waiting for long before Yahaba comes back in, a brown paper bag in hand. 

“You’re friends with Iwaizumi, right? I was wondering if you could take this to his house for me? I’ll be working until late tonight, so I can’t go myself, but I figured since you wanted to see him…”

“I don’t know where he lives,” is the thing he blurts.

“That’s not a problem, I can give you his address.” Yahaba replies.

“Sold.” Oikawa says with a smile, taking the warm bag from Yahaba’s clutches, who looks a little relieved. He lets out a large sigh, and Yachi giggles momentarily at Yahaba’s anxiousness over a slight fever.

“He wasn’t _that_ sick you know,” Yachi says, smiling at the blushing Yahaba.

“No harm in speeding up the process, right?” He turns to Oikawa. “Thank you, by the way. You’ll be doing me a favor.”

“No, It’s alright.” He smiles sweetly, waving and saying goodbye as his feet takes him to Iwaizumi’s apartment building.

~

The apartment building Iwaizumi lives in isn’t the highest of class, but it doesn’t look like the rent would be cheap, either. The lobby isn’t exactly quiet but the hallway on the way to Iwaizumi’s room is a silent yet exciting walk. He was going to see _Iwaizumi’s_ apartment. Granted—he wasn’t invited by Iwaizumi himself, so that took some of the fun out of it, but he would manage.

He knocks to the tune of a song that was stuck in his head, and waits until he eventually hears the light sound of footsteps approaching and a familiar voice muttering “Coming,” from the other side of the door. 

He braces himself, and when Iwaizumi swings the door open, his face a pale colour in comparison to his usual complexion with a red, irritated nose. He’s got bags under his eyes, and looks overall very tired. It bothers him that even in this sick and tired state, he is _still_ just as good looking. _What the fuck._

“No.” Is the first words out of Iwaizumi’s mouth, and it’s a deep, scratchy sound. He takes a large sniff, and starts closing the door in Oikawa’s face, tucking the blanket around his shoulders closer to him. But Oikawa can’t have it end like that.

“Wait!” He calls, sticking his foot in the door and pushing it open again. Iwaizumi gives him a bland look and makes his way to the couch, not even bothering to drive Oikawa away any farther. He didn’t look like he had the energy to, anyway.

“I brought soup!” He says, extending his arms and shoving the still-warm bag into Iwaizumi’s face. Iwaizumi cringes and pushes his hand away weakly. 

“I don’t want it, you’re going to give me food poisoning.”

Oikawa’s Jaw drops. “Rude, Iwa-chan! Rude!” _But he probably isn’t wrong,_ the voice in his head agrees.

He traces Iwaizumi’s path to the couch, where Iwaizumi huddles with his knees tucked into his chest, blanket tightly wrapped around him like a burrito. 

“I didn’t even make this, here.” He says, handing the package to Iwaizumi.

Iwaizumi reluctantly removes a hand from his cocoon blanket and opens the bag, bringing out the canister and opening it as a puff of steam rises into his face. Iwaizumi sniffs, and hums in approval, finding the fork in the bag to start eating. “Yahaba made this then, right?”

“How’d you know? and that’s so _mean_ Iwa-chan, you’d eat it if it was from him, but not from me?”

Iwaizumi snorts, pausing before taking the first bite to reply. “Yahaba’s cooked for me once or twice before, and I know from experience he’s a good cook as well. You on the other hand…”

“Then teach me how to make soup, too.”

“When I get better, maybe,” he shrugs, burrowing his nose into the warmth of the blankets. He looks up at Oikawa. “So why did you drop this off instead of Yahaba?”

“Oh, He was going to work until late tonight apparently, so he couldn’t do it himself.” Oikawa tells him, making himself comfortable on the other side of the couch cushion. 

Iwaizumi’s brows furrow as he looks to Oikawa. “No, he doesn’t, Did he tell you that? Why would he—” Iwaizumi’s expression goes blank, and he frowns as realization sets in on his features. “I’m going to kill him when I go to work tomorrow.” He promises.

“You are definitely not going into work tomorrow, Iwa-chan. Sorry.” Oikawa says, patting his hand on Iwaizumi’s knee comfortingly. _And what was that about Yahaba?_ He wonders, but skips over the thought. It wasn’t his business, probably.

“And who made you boss?” Iwaizumi asks, slouching into his pillows on the armrest of the couch an actually _pouting_. 

“I did. Just now! And I say you can’t go because you’re dripping snot all over the place, it’s really gross, y’know?”

“Get out of my house.” Iwaizumi grunts, putting the soup to the side and curling up.

“Nope!” He starts pulling at Iwaizumi’s blanket. “And get up, you are definitely _not_ sleeping on this couch. You’re going to get back problems and then you’re going to look even older than you do now, and we can’t have that!”

“Go away,” Iwaizumi groans from underneath his blanket hut, pulling the covers back close to him as Oikawa tug persistently at it. Iwaizumi swats him away, but his motions are slow and it doesn’t throw him off in the slightest.

“Nope! I’m here to stay!” He laughs, hauling Iwaizumi up. “Now, which way to your room?”

He manages to get Iwaizumi in bed, somehow. Weirdly enough, he was a lot more immature when he was sick, trying to protest and insist he was okay and could help himself, but seemed to sleep within seconds when he lied down in his bed. It was pretty cute.

Of course, Oikawa takes this chance to explore his apartment. He probably shouldn’t, considering it’s an invasion of privacy and his personal space, but he didn’t have to tell Iwaizumi what he was doing, and since he was sleeping, that meant free reign on exploring.

He doesn’t look through drawers, or anything like that. That might be a little too personal, and he’s not looking for Iwaizumi’s secrets--he just wants to know more about him. He could probably just ask if he wanted, of course, but that seemed a little impossible at the moment with Iwaizumi in his current fever-coma.

He’s a little disappointed to find that most of the apartment is bare, even though he clearly didn’t just move in or anything. the walls are an egg white, and the whole room reminds him of a blank piece of paper, save for the tv, couch, and a gray carpet. It looks like an open house if anything, and there was a serious lack of personality. 

“It suits him though,” He whispers to himself, looking further into the apartment.

The only photos he manages to find, proof that Iwaizumi actually lived there—were some photos strung up in the short hallway to his bedroom, Him with a woman and a man in several photos that looked too similar to him to be anything other than family. _Probably his mother and father,_ Oikawa guesses.

He can’t find any proof of a girlfriend or boyfriend or a lover in general, and he huffs a long sigh of relief. But in all honesty--he could probably personalize his apartment a bit more, and Oikawa would have to convince him to go shopping later, apparently.

Before letting himself out of the apartment, he cooks a pot of canned soup when he manages to find where the pots were in his kitchen. He burns it a little, but he’s not sticking around to take Iwaizumi’s stupid baker criticism anyway, so whatever.Iwaizumi _might_ have been right about him not being able to cook whatsoever, but he leaves it on the table anyway, along with a note saying, _’eat my soup instead, Iwa-chan. >:(‘_

He leaves right after.

~

“Hey, thanks for the other night, by the way.” Iwaizumi says to Oikawa, suddenly changing the subject and grabbing his attention when they’re at the bakery checkout and Iwaizumi’s putting the cakes into a bag. “The soup you made was crap, but I appreciate you coming over to check up on me.”

“All you did was yell at me though.” Oikawa points out.

“Yeah, well, I still appreciate it. You didn’t have to come over.”

“I had ulterior motives,” he admits. “I wanted to watch you sleep. You look really cute when you drool, you know that Iwa-chan? I took plenty of photos.”

the glare Iwaizumi sends him from over the counter could kill.

“Ah! I lied, I’m sorry Iwa-chan!” he pleads. _It’s not a total lie though,_ he thinks guiltily. _After all, i did watch him snore for a bit._ but he won’t admit that, like, ever.

“By the way!” he starts, changing the subject before Iwaizumi actually _does_ jump over the counter to murder him. “Did you want to stop by my set at my next photo shoot? It’s next week on Wednesday.”

He ponders it for a moment before replying. “Yeah, I think I’m free. Sure.” He hands over the bag to Oikawa and he opens his wallet to fish out the yen to pay for it all, but Iwaizumi holds out a hand, stopping him.

“These are on the house. See you soon?”

Oikawa doesn’t know how to use words properly after that, and for a minute his mouth just flops open and close like a fish out of water. He starts nodding like crazy, and chokes out a “Yeah, Thank you. See you. On Wednesday. Bye” before turning out the door to leave.

The cold night air on his face is welcome, and he inhales the chilly air. Something about Iwaizumi made him really, really happy. Just being around him brought a smile to his face. a real, genuine one that pulled at his cheeks so hard it hurt. The kind he hadn’t experienced in a long time. 

He hadn’t really had actual _friends_ outside of work for years. Other than Kuroo, Kenma, Makki, and Matsun, there was nobody who felt that close. But even with them, it wasn't like this. He didn’t want to kiss any of them, and it wasn’t complicated like it was with Iwaizumi.

It’s like the best friend he never had, and at first, he wanted to just ask him out on a date, but now he had mixed feelings on the whole thing. They’d built a strong friendship in the short time of knowing each other, and was it really worth it to risk that over a crush? What if Iwaizumi didn’t feel the same? sure--It would probably end up fine, even if Iwaizumi did say no to him. It might be awkward for a bit, yeah, but time healed most wounds, and he could get over it. Probably. The only part that made him nervous is what Iwaizumi would think of him after the confession if he didn’t feel the same. Would they stop talking? Would Iwaizumi cut him out of his life? 

It leaves a heavy feeling in his stomach, and he doesn’t like to think about it. Iwaizumi didn’t seem like the kind of person to just drop him, though, which is a bit comforting.

He just hoped, if he did confess--Iwaizumi felt the same, and he wouldn’t mess everything up.

~  
The shoot passes, and as promised, Iwaizumi attends. When he appears at the door of the studio, Oikawa is glad to show him around while they set everything up. He gives Iwaizumi the grand tour of the building, and they have small chat along the way. Oikawa is greatly lectured when they return to the scene of the shoot, of course, for running away without having his makeup done. Iwaizumi only snickers.

The rest of the next hour is Oikawa posing for different shots, and dressing up in different, unconventional clothes for the magazine page they were working on. The photographer seems more than a little annoyed with Oikawa, really, not that he can blame him--he spent most of the shoot looking at Iwaizumi instead of the camera like he was supposed to.

When the photographer finishes, everyone begins to wrap up the set and Oikawa changes into his usual clothes before his manager practically kicks him out with Iwaizumi into the cold night air. 

They part ways, Oikawa waving at Iwaizumi until he’s across the street and no longer looking. Oikawa knows he’s got it bad that he’s just so _happy_ from just hanging out with him.

~

“You need to stop bothering me at work—and stop touching those, shoo!” Iwaizumi groans, swatting Oikawa’s snatching fingers away from the milk bread loafs he pulls fresh and steaming from the oven. “You’re going to get fat and lose that modelling job of yours if you keep this diet up you know.”

“I Maintain a perfectly balanced diet, thank you very much.” Oikawa pouts, not bothering to mention that his roommate said the very same thing not too long ago. “Stop being mean to me, Iwa-chan, I’m your best customer after all!”

Iwaizumi snorts. “You’re also not the _only_ customer you know, so i’ll thank you very much to _stop eating all my milk bread._ ” He gives a threatening glare towards the guilty Oikawa, who pulls back his hand that is once again too close to the milk bread and ready to pull a piece off the corner.

“But Iwa-chan,” He drawls out into a whine. “You promised me some of that milk bread…” He gives the puppy dog eyes to Iwaizumi that plead _“It’s my favorite food”_ but Iwaizumi only stares, unfazed, and ends up smacking Oikawa in the head. 

“You have to wait till it cools down, Idiot. I don’t want you getting burned in my kitchen.”

“Ah, Iwa-chan, So sweet and caring as always,” Oikawa sighs wistfully, and Iwaizumi only looks more disgusted at the dreamy expression he makes as he says it.

“Are you going to teach me how to bake more stuff soon?” Oikawa asks randomly, diverting Iwaizumi’s attention from the nearby cutting board he looks like he might throw at him.

“Sure, If you want to,” He replies, Taking his apron off to hang it up. “You can come to my apartment this weekend and we could make cupcakes. You could learn how to ice different pastries, and I’m sure even _you_ couldn’t mess up 24 individual cupcakes. Probably.”

Oikawa looks at him. “...Your house?”

“Is that a problem?” Iwaizumi asks, eyebrow raised.

“Ah...no.” _I’m just ridiculously happy, is all._ He doesn’t say.

The doorbell to the bakery rings before Iwaizumi can say anything else, and Iwaizumi moves past him to attend to the customer, watching him carefully from the till from time to time to make sure he isn’t eating the damn milk bread. Oikawa only makes funny faces at him in return, perfectly glued to his spot and not touching the bread to prove that he could be trusted alone with the sweets.

It was a little hard to control how happy he felt, but he somehow manages, and looks forward to the weekend.

~

“It’s been quite a while now, has it not? Do you have enough balls to ask him out yet?” Kuroo asks, arm curled around Kenma’s shoulders as they sat comfortably on the small couch, Oikawa sulking from the beanbag chair across from them.

“I want to, but now I’m actually worried if he turns me down.”

“That’s a first,” Kuroo whistles, sinking low into his seat. “You’re always so confident with people, it’s kind of throwing me for a loop to see you like this.”

“That’s the thing though,” Oikawa starts, “We’re friends now, so I don’t want to mess anything up by telling him that I’d like to date, because if it was just a casual hookup like originally planned, I wouldn’t have a connection to him or anything and there would be no hard feelings--” he takes in a breath of air, rambling, “but _now_ if i told him that I liked him and he’s not interested he might not be comfortable around me anymore and I’ll be super lonely without him, you get it?”

Kuroo smiles, shaking his head. “I think you’re overthinking it. If he didn’t like being around you by now, don’t you think he would have said something? He’s hung around this long after all.”

“But that doesn’t mean he likes me in _that_ way.” He groans, flipping over in his bean bag to sink his face into the fabric and block out Kuroo’s obnoxious laughter.

“WHY ARE YOU LAUGHING,” he cries.

“You’re acting like a love-struck teenager, this isn’t that hard, is it?”

“you’re both being annoying,” Kenma grumbles quietly from under kuroo’s arm, bringing both sets of eyes towards him and shrinking around the psp in his hands as he realises the mistake he made of entering the conversation.

“Kenma,” Oikawa pleads in all seriousness like he’s asking for his life, getting on his knees in front of Kenma, hands clasped together tightly. “Please tell me what to do and actually help me, unlike your useless boyfriend.”

“Hey!” Kuroo protests.

“I can’t tell you what to do, Tooru,” he frowns at the screen of his game. “Just do what you think is right.”

“But I don’t know how to decide that,” Oikawa rubs at his face. “That’s why i need help with this!”

Kenma sighs for a moment too long, clearly annoyed. He pauses the game, silencing the upbeat music to the dead quiet ring of their apartment as he places it on the cushion beside him. Oikawa looks to him with hopeful eyes, and Kenma caves. “Will you regret not telling him how you feel, then?”

“Huh?”

“Will you be happy like this forever? Are you alright with always remaining just as friends for the sake of playing it safe?” Kenma asks, deadpan as ever.

 _No, probably not,_ his mind supplies. He just thought that in the end, it might be better if he kept his feelings to himself. It wouldn’t be the first time he’s lost someone close just by spouting his feeling here and there, and he did _not_ want to lose Iwaizumi. He knew from the moment he first talked to the guy--maybe the first time he looked at him, that he wanted to get to know him. Even now he felt like they were close enough to be best friends, and it’s not like he wanted to just ruin that for his own selfish feelings. 

But he’d never stop thinking “what if,” if he didn’t at least try, right? He’d always been the type to go for what he wanted in the past, whether it be business related or volleyball or school or anything he set his mind to. He could at least ask Iwaizumi instead of making and imaginary opinion up for him in his own mind without even trying.

He takes a deep sigh. “I’d regret it.” with a smile, he adds, “Thanks Kenma. No thanks for you, Kuroo.”

“Then there’s your answer.” And without even a beat passing, he reaches over to grab his handheld system once again, leaving the conversation.

“So what’s your plan?” Kuroo asks.

Oikawa thinks for a moment. “We’ll be seeing each other this weekend, he’s teaching me how to make cupcakes. I could do it then.”

Kuroo rolls his eyes.

“What?” Oikawa asks, eyes narrowed.

“You’re practically already dating from everything you’ve told me,” He retorts. “This sounds like it’ll be a piece of cake--no pun intended.” He smiles devilishly at that, and even kenma groans this time.

“But seriously, kiss him.”

Oikawa kicks him in the shins, and Kenma thanks him.

~

“You’re stirring the batter all wrong, Oikawa.” Iwaizumi warns from over his shoulder.

“Thanks for the input mom, how would you like me to stir it?”

Iwaizumi flicks him on the arm and steals the whisk and bowl from him, doing it himself because _apparently_ Oikawa can’t. He’s got a look of pure concentration on his face, and Oikawa shakes his head with a smile and lets him have his way, watching him from his spot leaning against the counter.

He didn’t exactly have a plan when it came to asking Iwaizumi out. Kenmas words were encouraging when it came to the matter, but the confidence and excitement to go through with his plan probably lasted a solid ten minutes on the day he was worrying about it, and now he just felt unsure again.

But, well, he’d figure something out. Probably.

Iwaizumi’s look of concentration into the bowl had went from focused to somewhat angry, eyebrows pinched tightly together and mouth tugged into a frown and all. It was kind of funny, considering he was making light, fluffy _cupcakes_ of all things.

Oikawa didn’t really think about what he was doing, but he ends up sticking his finger in the batter and poking it in between Iwaizumi’s eyebrows. Immediately, he bursts into a fit of laughter, as Iwaizumi gives him the glare of the century.  
“...Did you just put batter on my face?”

“Im sorry,” He breathes out a laugh. He was in no way sorry whatsoever. “You need to take a break, Iwa-chan, You look like you’re going to murder someone while stirring, y’know. They’re just cupcakes.”

Iwaizumi snorts, and Oikawa _almost_ thinks he’s just going to go with it, and wipe off the remains of uncooked cake on his face without feeling the need for revenge. Instead, he doesn’t even reach for the towel, but to Oikawa’s horror, dips his hand fully into the bowl, grabbing like he’s making snowball out of the fluidy substance. Oikawa stops laughing.

“Iwa-chan, it was a joke--” he says, but is cut off by the large splat of cupcake gunk against his shoulder blade.

He gapes at Iwaizumi, who’s smiling darkly at him in return. “Oops. It was an accident.”

Oikawa wants to laugh it off, but this was a _brand new shirt_ , and his competitive emotions start flaring up. He never was good at losing, and Iwaizumi just declared war.

Iwaizumi looks like he’s satisfied with all he’s done, but Oikawa doesn’t let him off that easily. He dips his hand in again when Iwaizumi had his guard down, and goey rolls of it make their way down his shirt as well.

Iwaizumi catches on quickly, and goes to throw another handful of batter at him, but Oikawa barely dodges away and it splats across Iwaizumi’s fridge instead.

It’s an all out war from there. They begin dodging bullets of batter left and right, and since Iwaizumi was currently in ownership of the mixing bowl, Oikawa grabs the batter-soaked whisk and starts flicking it at Iwaizumi, getting small specks of batter over their faces, the wall, and over the floor, too.

Iwaizumi doesn’t seem to mind the mess in his kitchen, apparently, and goes right for dumping the whole thing across Oikawa’s head once he’s close enough.

Oikawa takes in a deep breath, closing his eyes in shock as the stuff runs right through his hair and drips across his face, while cold strands layer across his shoulders and neck, too. He wipes away the mess from his eyes the best he can, while Iwaizumi’s clamorous laugh fills the apartment.

It’s this genuine, hearty laugh too. Louder than Oikawa’s ever heard him laugh before, and really, he would have loved to hear it if the situation were different, but he wouldn’t let the cupcake fight end there. He wanted payback.

Oikawa saunters toward the counter, where the pre-made icing was waiting in bowls to be applied to the cupcakes after cooking, which were probably supposed to be done by now. Iwaizumi’s laugh dies down as he realises what Oikawa was thinking.

“Hey, That’s a dirty trick—” Iwaizumi protested, raising a pointed finger, but Oikawa shushed him with a palm.

“You messed with my hair, Iwa-chan, get ready to pay.” He promised with a smile, snatching the bowl full of blue icing, and dousing the spoon in the mixture before overhand tossing a dollop of it at Iwaizumi. 

It went a long way, for only being a spoonful, and splatted right across his chest, blue dye soaking into the shirt and looking similar to a paintball splatter. Iwaizumi gapes and Oikawa runs to the safe side of the counter with a shrill cry, dodging the tosses of the remaining batter from the bowl Iwaizumi had dumped over his head.

Unfortunately, they had made more than one color of icing for the cupcakes, and Iwaizumi had grabbed at one of the other bowls, flinging pink icing in his direction. Oikawa squawked as some landed right across his cheek, the little splatters clinging to his lashes.

It got really colorful after that, and what started out as a tiny payback for a blip of batter on Iwaizumi’s forehead became a food war ranging from across the kitchen. 

The battle ends when Oikawa slips on batter and lands on his back with a laugh and a quiet whisper of, “Ouch.” Iwaizumi comes out of hiding behind the fridge door after that, and offers a hand to help him up.

“Are you alright?” 

Oikawa groans in pain, lifting a weak hand to Iwaizumi—just to pull him down with him into the mess on the floor. He starts howling with laughter as Iwaizumi grunts at his side.

“You cheat, you tricked me.”

“How so?” Oikawa laughs, “I didn’t fake the fall, it hurt like crazy.” He rests his head against the ground. “Maybe we shouldn’t have been running on a dirty floor.”

“Maybe you shouldn’t have put Batter on my face.”

“You’re blaming me?! You got batter over my brand new shirt!” He says, addressing to the tie-dyed shirt that _used_ to be a solid light blue.

“...Sorry about that. I’ll buy you a new one.” He promises, as if to make amends.

Oikawa shakes his head. “It’s fine. That was kind of fun, actually.”

“Yeah,” Iwaizumi shakes his head, sitting up from the mess on the floor. “Not going to be so fun to clean, though…”

“Not at all,” Oikawa agrees with a sigh, and joins Iwaizumi in sitting up. 

There’s a long, comfortable silence that fills the room, and Oikawa begins to feel the gross paste drying on his hair and skin. He’d need long shower to fix this mess, that was for sure. 

Iwaizumi laughs again after a moment of silence, and Oikawa looks up to him. “What’s so funny?”

Iwaizumi tries to hide a smile behind his fist. “Your hair. It looks like you hairsprayed it in a million different directions.”

“Thanks for that, by the way,” Oikawa frowns, disgusted. “I’m afraid to look in the mirror…”

“Hold on a moment.” Iwaizumi says, leaning closer. 

“Huh?”

“Stay still! You’re about to get a giant glob of batter in your eye.”

Iwaizumi leans to the side to grab a tea towel handing off the oven handle, which is surprisingly clean for the splatter war they just had, and wipes his hands on the cleaner side. After that he moves in close to Oikawa, focussing on wiping the batter off his face before it falls into his eye.

 _Oh,_ is all Oikawa can belatedly think, as Iwaizumi’s practically nose to nose with him for a moment. It might have only been a few seconds, but Oikawa can clearly see the bright greys in Iwaizumi’s eyes, and just how long his eyelashes were. His heart practically beats out of his chest at the proximity, and he hopes it isn’t as loud as he feels it is.

“Got it,” Iwaizumi declares, rubbing his hands once again on the tea towel, and backs away from Oikawa, which feels much too far at the moment. He holds out the rag for Oikawa to take, but he ignores it, feeling the rush of his heartbeat fill his senses as he stares at Iwaizumi.

Iwaizumi looks like he wants to ask something, but Oikawa doesn’t give him the chance to, filling that space between them again but doesn't stop when they’re nose to nose, and goes straight for his lips.

He manages to catch a surprised noise out of Iwaizumi as he kisses him, pushing their lips together around the batter and icing. He ends up with some of that icing in his mouth, and backs away after a moment, separating their lips. 

When he sees Iwaizumi’s face, however, his heart plummets to his stomach. He doesn’t look disgusted or anything, but there’s a clear look of shock to Iwaizumi’s face, lips parted and eyes a bit wide. He doesn’t know if it was the good kind of shock.

He doesn’t wait to find out, either.

Before Iwaizumi can reach out to stop him, he’s already trailing icing through the living room as he grabs his jacket and runs out the door, ignoring any call from Iwaizumi.

He gets some weird looks on the bus, being coated in cake makings and all, but he doesn’t really care. 

As soon as he gets home, he takes a shower long enough to wash all the remains off, and throws the shirt in the trash bin of his bathroom. He’ll deal with that later. He collapses on the bed soon after, huddling in a ball and wrapping himself tightly in the sheets, falling into a dreamless sleep.

~

He wakes up to a pounding on his bedroom door, and the stupid alarm on his phone blaring loudly. He forgot to turn it off the night before since he didn’t have work in the morning, but he didn’t want to check his phone after coming home that night.

he swipes his lock screen and the tone stops, and he pulls himself out of the tangle of sheets to answer the insistent knocking that’s threatening to bump his photos off the wall with the force.

Kuroo looks at him with a raised eyebrow, looking annoyingly cheery for someone woken up by his roommate's alarm clock. His eyes are more questioning that anything, but any annoyance he might have had seems to simmer away the second his eyes land on Oikawa.

“What’s up?” Kuroo asks, slightly concerned. 

He doesn’t know where to start. Aside from the whole “telling Iwaizumi and not staying to hear his answer” thing, he had a terrible sleep that left him cramped up and aching. His pounding headache wasn’t a big help either.

“Not feeling that great…” He settles with, rubbing at his temples with one hand and leaning on his door frame with the other. Kuroo seems to notice what’s up, and invites himself in the room, falling fully with a bounce onto his bed. 

“I mean, I kind of figured something was wrong when you didn’t wake up after the first ring of your alarm,” he hums, rolling over as Oikawa plops down beside him. “Since you’re usually up before it, nevermind it going off for a few minutes straight. You’ve never been able to sleep well.”

Oikawa half-smiles at him sleepily, and pulls his legs up onto the bed. “Sorry if I woke you up.”

“You did, but that’s okay. So what happened?”

“I kissed Iwaizumi.”

“...And then?”

Oikawa flops into the sheets, burying his face and muttering a muffled, “ _And then_ I ran away.”

He hears Kuroo snort behind him and gets up to glare. Sometimes he chose the worst friends to confide in.

“Kuroo please don’t laugh, I’m in pain here,” he says, unsuccessfully fighting the blush that had risen to his cheeks. 

“Amazing,” Kuroo sighed, running a finger across his eye to remove the tear about to fall. “Everyone believes you’re so suave, and yet you ran away after practically confessing. Even girls don’t usually do that.”

He groans. he already knew that, of course, and everything kuroo was telling him was _not_ helping.

He waits for the guffawing fit behind him to die out, and when it finally stops, Kuroo coughs before speaking.

“So what are you going to do now?” he asks.

“Probably bury myself,” Oikawa reasons.

“No, seriously.”

“I might just hide out in the apartment for a week.” He says, in total seriousness, and Kuroo pushes him by the shoulder.

“No, Just check your phone, at least? He probably texted you.”

“I don't want to,” his nose scrunches up. “It’s probably a lot of questions or a rejection.” _Or something that’s too much to deal with right now,_ he thinks.

Kuroo rolls his eyes. “You’re impossible.”

“Holing myself up in the apartment is completely reasonable, thanks.” he points to Kuroo, eyes narrowed and ready to kill. “And don’t tell me _I’m_ impossible. I remember how you used to talk about kenma before you got together. You thought it would be hopeless.”

Kuroo throws his hands up. “But it wasn’t! And you’re proving my point here, you know, everything's probably fine, just _talk_ to Iwaizumi.”

“I don’t want to. Try me tomorrow.” He yawns, stands up and heads to the kitchen for breakfast, Kuroo lagging behind only by a few short steps.

~

Kuroo puts up with it for a whole two days before he snaps, turning Oikawa’s game off and stealing the controller from his palms, sitting on the table in front of him and crossing his arms as he glares at Oikawa.

 

“I was _winning_ ” he moans, and slouches against the back of the couch.

“Time to go talk to Iwaizumi.”

“No.” He whines, rolling further into the couch.

“You can’t avoid him forever, you like that bakery, and you like him even more.”

“Tell me about it,” he sits up, pulling a pillow into his lap. “I could really go for some sweets from there right now…” he trails off, eyes taking on a faraway look as he pulls the pillow tighter, thinking of comfort food.

Kuroo rolls his eyes. “You’re totally addicted to everything he makes, so just go talk to him. Buy a cake for crying out loud, and stop moping around. You look terrible. Your hair looks terrible.”

Oikawa smiles at that. “I might be sulking at home, Kuroo, but I know my hair looks good. I’m not so much of a slob that I wouldn’t get ready in the morning. And I agree with you on the cake thing, but I refuse, thanks.” With a gasp, bat of his eyelashes and a smile of pearly teeth, he asks, “Be a dear and go buy me something?”

“Hell no,” He spits without a second thought, but after a short staring competition, considers it. “You know what, If I buy it for you, will you promise to go out and talk to him tomorrow?”

“Maybe,” he hums, snatching the remote back from Kuroo’s grasp. “And thanks.”

He resumes his game, faintly hearing the sound of Kuroo closing the door behind him as he left, and shrugs off his quick agreement to him being desperate enough to get Oikawa out of the house.

~

Of course things couldn’t go that easily for him, and anytime Kuroo did something out of his free will without some sort of payment fee meant he was planning something and up to no good. He should have considered this when it all went his way far too easily.

There’s a knock at the door almost a half an hour after Kuroo leaves the house, and although he wasn’t expecting anyone, he goes to answer it without a worry in the world.

When He opens the door though, his heart drops to his stomach and he’s surprised he doesn’t slam the door right in Iwaizumi’s face out of sheer fear, but it might just be because of his appendages freeze up and betray him.

“Delivery from Aoba Jousai bakery for—” He stops when he looks up and sees Oikawa, mirroring the horror in his eyes. 

“Um.” Is all Oikawa gets out, and the staring contest begins. “...Why are you here?” _I never told you where I live,_ is what he leaves out, but it’s intended. 

“I got a delivery order to this address…”

It all clicks, and Oikawa’s hand falls from the doorknob, numb, as he loses all respect for his best friend. 

“Fuck,” he drags a hand down his face. “This is all Kuroo’s fault…”

“ _Who?_ ”

“My stupid roommate I told you about, I’m going to kick his ass.” but despite the harsh words, he only leans forward to connect his head with the doorframe.

“can I…” Iwaizumi starts, bringing Oikawa’s eyes back to him. “...come inside?”

~

It’s awkward, but Oikawa’s thankful he had half a mind to remember his manners and offer to make tea for his guest. The thing he’s not so proud of, however, is hiding out in the kitchen, away from the living room couch and Iwaizumi specifically—which isn’t exactly proper etiquette but it would probably be worse if he just stood beside Iwaizumi instead. he didn’t know what to say. 

When he walks into the room with a tray of tea, Iwaizumi spares no moment and cuts straight to the details.

“So why’d you run away? You let me to clean up all the mess, you know.”

He stills. _That’s what he was worried about, of all things?_ “I’m sorry…” He says, but can’t bring his eyes to Iwaizumi’s.

A loud sigh bursts from Iwaizumi. “You don’t have to apologize. You’re the one who went home covered in food.” after another long, eerie silence he asks, “Why did you run away?”

“I...” he replies, but nothing follows the statement, so iwaizumi speaks.

“Just for the record, it’s really immature to run away like that.” he scolds, and Oikawa just sighs.

“Way to rub salt in the wound, Iwa-chan. I already know.” With a cheeky smile he adds, “Sorry about that too, by the way.”

“You’re really stupid,” he mutters out, and Oikawa just laughs lightly, ignoring what he’s pretty sure is about to come.

A tense moment passes before Iwaizumi sighed heavily, rubbing at his temples. “Were you serious?”

“Huh?” Oikawa says, and iwaizumi sends him a death glare for not replying right. _Oh._ “Why would I have done that otherwise?” he asks. 

“Then fine.”

“...Fine…?” Oikawa asked slowly. 

“Oh, for crying out loud,” Iwaizumi mutters, and before Oikawa can give any extra thought on what was happening, Iwaizumi is leaning across his table and _kissing_ him.

He doesn’t process it for a moment, and stiffens under the touch, but a warm hand is touching his and he melts into the kiss, unconsciously leaning closer. The kiss is warm and sweet, and much more enjoyable when reciprocated, and well—when they aren’t covered in dough. Iwaizumi’s hands find their way to his cheeks at some point, and honestly, this was all he ever could have asked for. Maybe it’s not exactly how he pictured it—They’re leaning over the table still, with the wooden frame poking into his ribs uncomfortably, but he’ll make do.

When they part, the first thing Oikawa asks is, “Wait, if you feel the same, why’d you look so surprised yesterday when I kissed you?”

Iwaizumi snorts, leaning back to his side of the table. “I didn’t exactly expect you to kiss me. But by the time I registered what happened, you already were halfway down the elevator.”

“Iwa-chan is just slow,” Oikawa pouts.

“Don’t run away next time, then.”

“Yeah,” He agrees, a smile pinching his face. _I won’t._

~

Things fall into place nicely after that.

For all the drama he caused, it turns out Iwaizumi really was just as head over heels for Oikawa as he was for Iwaizumi. 

He learns this from Yahaba, who was rooting for them to get together all along. It’s nice talking to Yahaba—he tells him secrets of how Iwaizumi asked constantly if a 'tall, brown haired man named Oikawa' ever walked in when he wasn’t on shift, or how he constantly looked around for him in expectation whenever the door chimed when a customer arrived. Oikawa even high-fives Yahaba when he reveals that the soup he made was just a ploy to get him to Iwaizumi’s house to play nurse. 

Iwaizumi shows his love in a gruffer way than Oikawa’s ever seen, _yelling_ at him to “Stay safe” Whenever Oikawa left his sight and always tries to keep him out of trouble wherever they go. The violent behavior of slapping Oikawa’s hands away when they came close to freshly baked food was another weird way of showing his love too, and really, Oikawa doesn’t know how he didn’t realize they had mutual feelings for each other earlier.

Iwaizumi fit perfectly into Oikawa’s small group of friends, and was accepted almost instantly by everybody--including kenma, surprisingly. (or maybe not so surprisingly--they were technically the only ‘normal’ ones of the bunch.)

Everything may not have went smoothly as planned, and probably could have gone better in a few ways, (More on Oikawa’s part than Iwaizumi’s, really) but everything turned out fine in the end.

~

“Iwa-chan, Finish up here, will you? Kiyoko-chan and Yacchan already told us to go as well,” He whines, tapping his foot impatiently.

“Wait a little longer, okay? I have to put these muffins in the—"

“The girls can handle that, too,” He huffs. “Come. On. We’re gonna be late for our dinner reservation.”

Iwaizumi rolls his eyes, but listens, and drops the oven mitts on the counter as Oikawa goes to grab for his hand, but Iwaizumi pulls away. Oikawa sends him a sad, betrayed look at the action, and he snorts at how childish his boyfriend could be.

“At least let me wash my hands first, I have batter all over me.” 

“That’s never bothered me before, you know. But yeah, you do. There’s some on your face as well.” Oikawa points out with a lopsided grin. 

“Is there ?” Iwaizumi asks, feeling around his face for any remainder of Icing or clumps of batter before they leave the confines of the shop. He didn’t need a reenactment of the batter fight from weeks ago.

Oikawa leans forward, stealing a kiss from his lips. Mostly just because he _can_ now. “Nah, I got it.”

“You’re such a _dork,_ ” Iwaizumi says.

“You love me for it though.” 

“....”

“Iwaizumi~” he chides in a childish manner.

“...yeah, I do.” He agrees, begrudgingly.

Oikawa grins brilliantly, tightly weaving his fingers in with Iwaizumi’s. It feels warm. Safe.

He’s glad for moments like these. With Iwaizumi, he feels like he can be himself without being judged. It’s not like anything he’s had before, and he’s thankful—for the path he took, for walking into that little bakery at the end of the street, and for meeting the man named Iwaizumi. 

He didn’t know what the future held, and nothing was ever written in stone, especially when it came to past relationships of his—but from where he was standing, their future looked bright.

**Author's Note:**

> ADDS STUPID CHEESE AT THE END THERE BC I DONT KNOW HOW TO END STORIEs  
> also about the whole "Iwaizumi works at _Aoba Jousai_ and Oikawa works at a company called _Seijou_ '  
> before u say anything I already know its rlly not creative to use basically the same name for different things BUT I GOT NOTHING ELSE SO /shrugs loudly/ pls accept me
> 
>  
> 
> I feel a little _eh_ about this whole thing tbh  
>  I got rlly psyched to write this and then got writers block halfway through, and probably deleted more words than I wrote in the end /sobs/ so if you liked it, pls tell me your thoughts?? ;v; (kudos are also nice!!) 
> 
> And thank you so much for being so patient with me, Shoreline will be updated next~ I can't promise when because of school and such, but it'll be out soon!!
> 
> EDIT: also if u see any glaringly obvious mistakes pls tell me!! I wrote this on google docs and read through it like 5 times but I miss a lot it seems sINCE THERE WAS LITERALLY A MISTAKE IN THE FIRST SENTENCE RIP ME 
> 
> And come say hi to me @ tobioandthediamonds on tumblr C:


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